The third round of
AFC matches for the
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada men's national soccer team, Canada, Mexico national football team, Mexico, and the United States men's national soccer team, United States at the 2026 FIFA ...
was played from 5 September 2024 to 10 June 2025.
Format
The 18 teams that advanced from the
second round
The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...
(nine group winners and nine group runners-up) were divided into three groups of six teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The top two teams of each group qualified directly for the
2026 FIFA World Cup
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...
, while the third and fourth-placed teams advanced to the
fourth round
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama
...
.
Qualified teams
The following teams finished first or second in their respective second round groups:
Draw
The draw for the third round was held on 27 June 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The seeding for the draw was based on the
FIFA Men's World Rankings
The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...
on 20 June 2024 (shown in parentheses below).
Each group contained one team from each of the six pots. The draw started with Pot 6 and concluded with Pot 1, with each team drawn being placed in the corresponding position sequentially in Group A, then B, then C.
Note: Bold indicates team qualified for the World Cup. ''Italics'' indicates the team advanced to the fourth round.
Schedule
The competition schedule was as follows:
Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Goalscorers
Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following infractions:
* Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious infractions)
* Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions are carried forward to further qualification rounds, but not the finals or any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the third round:
Notes
See also
*
2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification – third round
The third round of 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification is played from 25 March 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Format
A total of 24 teams (3 best ranked losing teams from the first round + 18 third and fourth-placed teams from the second round + 3 winners f ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:2026 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC third round
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FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Round 3
FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Round 3
FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Round 3
FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Round 3
FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Round 3